Roses in the Window
by thepurplewriter333
Summary: When Astrid wakes up to find a rose in her window, she has her suspicions of who it came from. One-shot.


**This is just an idea I thought of a few days ago, and I wanted to write it:). It's set in the Riders of Berk season, in case you all were wondering:) So, this is my first one-shot, and I hope you like it!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Astrid woke in the morning feeling replenished, energized, and ready to swing her ax at something. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. It was past dawn, she could see, which meant that she couldn't take an early morning flight on Stormfly today.

 _I shouldn't have stayed up so late,_ she thought to herself, pulling off the covers on top of her. _Now I might be late to the Academy for sleeping in..._

Disappointed, Astrid stood up from bed, ready to go outside and get Stormfly ready to go. That's when she noticed something small and pink sitting in her window. Astrid felt curious, and walked over.

Once she saw what it was, her eyes widened in shock, and she gasped.

It was a rose.

A Berk Bog Rose, to be more specific. Those kind of roses only grew on Berk, making it all the rarer.

Astrid picked the rose up, cocking her head. Who had left it there for her? Or had it just blown in last night?

But any chance that the rose was there by accident disappeared when Astrid noticed a note tied to the flower. She unrolled it, and began to read.

 _Such a beautiful flower_

 _For a beautiful face_

 _Thank you for everything_

 _You dazzle me with your grace_

 _From,_

 _Yours truly_

Shocked, Astrid let the note drop to the floor, but she still clutched the rose in her right hand. Who was this secret admirer? How come they hadn't done anything like this before? Astrid sighed, putting the rose back on the window. It would be best that she forgot about all of this. Her secret admirer would back down if she didn't call him out.

Without sparing the topic another thought, Astrid raced downstairs and out the door, heading to her family's shed where Stormfly stayed. "Stormfly! Wake up, or we're going to be late for training!" she called, opening the doors of the shed.

Stormfly cooed from inside, still trying to stay asleep. Astrid chuckled. "Come on, Stormfly. Don't make me use your tickle spot." The Nadder's eyes snapped open from her sleepy trance, and Stormfly shot up, shuffling on her feet.

"That's what I thought," Astrid grinned, climbing on her dragon. "Let's go."

With a small roar, Stormfly pranced out of the shed and jumped off into the air, starting to fly. Even though Astrid had flown many times on Stormfly before, the beautiful scenery around still took her breath away. The blanket of blue sky, the crisp, sweet feeling in the air, and just the way Stormfly glided over the village, making everything seem more special than it was.

Once they dropped down next to the Academy, Astrid saw all the other Riders already inside, waiting for her. Astrid quickly nudged Stormfly to walk in,

"Morning, Astrid," Hiccup said cheerfully, turning to face her. "You're a few minutes late for training… what happened?" He tried to be casual, but Astrid could tell something was up.

"Sorry," she apologized, sliding off of Stormfly. "I... slept in. I stayed up pretty late last night trying out a new food with Stormfly."

Hiccup cocked his head, and he almost seemed… disappointed with Astrid's answer. But he went on, nonetheless. "What kind of food was it?"

Astrid smiled, crossing her arms. "That's something for Stormfly and me to know, and you to find out."

Hiccup sighed, and Astrid suddenly realized how tired he looked. The bags under his eyes, the way he slumped his shoulders back... _He must have stayed up late, too,_ she mused in concern, studying her friend closely. _He's got to stop doing this, or he's going to get bad sleep deprivation._

"Alright, gang," Hiccup began, still keeping an eye on Astrid. "Today we're going to work on shooting targets from our dragons."

"For the last time," Snotlout growled when the twins smiled over at him evilly, "I am not a target! Give it up!"

"But Snotlout," Ruff said, raising her finger, "you're the perfect kind of target! You're big, bulky, and have a bad attitude!"

"You won't get that kind of stuff out of a wall," Tuffnut added, shaking his head sadly before turning to the Academy's wall. "Come on! Show me what you got, wall!" When the wall didn't reply, Tuff got infuriated. "Oh, you think you're so tough, wall? Not speaking? Not talking? Not moving! Well, I got news for you…!"

Hiccup raised his brow. "Okay. Well. While Tuff's yelling at the wall, the rest of us can move onto targets. I already set up the barrels, and we'll use our dragons to shoot right in the middle of the targets, alright?" When everyone nodded, Hiccup continued. "Astrid," he paused, and his cheeks flushed slightly, "you can go first. Then Fishlegs, Snotlout, the twins, and me."

Astrid blinked slowly. Why had Hiccup called her to go first, and had acted that way when he said her name? He didn't usually behave like that…

A sudden thought entered Astrid's mind. She might just know who her secret admirer was now, and the thought reddened her face and darkened her mood. _Hiccup? No, it can't be him. He's… well… Hiccup!_

"Astrid?" Hiccup asked, looking tiredly over at her. "What's wrong?"

Shaking her head, Astrid jumped back up on Stormfly. "Nothing. I-I still must be tired from last night." But her thoughts were racing. _Could_ it have been Hiccup who left her that rose? She had always known he had a crush on her, but she never expected him to actually _do_ something about it.

"I suggest an early night tonight," Hiccup told her, scribbling something down in his journal. "Tomorrow's exercises are much harder than today's will be." He finished drawing, and Astrid saw he had drawn a graph on the paper- a score chart for all the riders' points.

Astrid smirked, getting ready to take off on Stormfly. She could already guess who would come in what place; it was the same thing every time. Hiccup would come in first, she would get second, Ruff and Tuff would get third, Fishlegs fourth, and then Snotlout would come in last place, and he would complain about how unfair Hiccup was for the rest of the day. Chuckling, Astrid patted Stormfly's neck. Some things never changed.

"Alright… go!" Hiccup smiled, waving Astrid off.

Astrid nudged Stormfly, and the dragon flapped its wings to push itself into the air before flying around the Academy's inside walls, preparing to fire. "Almost there, Stormfly," Astrid whispered, leaning in as they got closer to the target. "One second more… and... now!"

Stormfly released a jet of fire which blasted the top row of barrels down, hitting the middle one straight in the center. Astrid whooped, landing next to the others.

"Great job, Astrid!" Hiccup congratulated, nodding up at her. "That was perfect!"

"Uh, no it wasn't," Snotlout snapped, angry with Astrid getting all the attention. "Her… rolly-twirly thing was off." He paused, his cheeks flushing when everybody looked at him like he was stupid. "Well, I saw it…"

"Anyways, Fishlegs, you're next," Hiccup said, turning to the boy.

Astrid noticed that he did not seem as excited with Fishlegs going as he had been with her. She frowned. So, did that mean that Hiccup _was_ her secret admirer? Or was he just glad to see her today? She couldn't tell, and that was frustrating. Usually Hiccup was so easy to figure out.

 _I'll find out soon,_ Astrid promised herself, crossing her arms from Stormfly's back. _Yes, I will_ _._

* * *

The next morning, Astrid woke just as dawn came, and she sat up with bed with a yawn. She had taken Hiccup's advice and gone to bed early, and now she was glad she had. Astrid felt completely refreshed for the day, and she was ready to blast something with Stormfly.

 _Oh, Thor, now I'm starting to sound like Ruff and Tuff,_ she groaned to herself.

Astrid hopped out from bed, and was about to walk out the door to go get Stormfly, when she saw something large and pink sticking out from the window. Astrid stiffened, stopping in her tracks. _Not again…_

Pacing over to the window, Astrid brushed aside her curtains and found…

A bouquet of seven Berk Bog Roses.

Astrid sighed, picking it up. Clearly her secret admirer remained quite serious on trying to win her over, even if she wasn't completely sure who it was yet. _No, it must be Hiccup,_ she thought, shaking her head. _Whom else could it be? Unless it's…_

 _Snotlout?_

She grimaced, trying not to gag. Snotlout very well could be her secret admirer. He had been hitting on her for years, and Astrid wouldn't be surprised if he was the one behind leaving the roses. Still… would Snotlout think to actually _give_ her something? Sure, he loved to try wooing Astrid to love him, but he wasn't exactly… romantic.

A note attached to the bouquet drew Astrid's thoughts away from Snotlout. She slipped it open, and read.

 _One seemed not enough_

 _But seven was just right_

 _I hope you like them_

 _With all your might_

 _From,_

 _Yours truly_

Astrid growled, crumpling the note up in her fist. She was beyond irritated now. Who thought they could just send her love poems and expect her to not care?

"Well, now I know it's not Snotlout," she muttered, grabbing her ax from the floor. "He can't write poetry to save his life… it's either Fishlegs or Hiccup." She wrinkled her nose at Fishlegs' name. As much as she liked him, she couldn't imagine them inside any kind of relationship other than grudging friends. Then it had to be-

"Hiccup," she whispered.

She was both angry and surprised. _Hiccup?_

Astrid raced out the door, trying to finger comb her morning hair as she ran down the stairs. Maybe she could catch Hiccup alone before he went to the Academy. She needed to ask him about… _that._

Leaping out the door, Astrid didn't bother getting Stormfly. Hiccup's hut was close enough, and she was in the mood for running. She felt it was a good, non-violent way to get her frustration out. It was only a few minutes before she reached the Haddock hut, panting slightly from the run. She ran up to the door, and clearing her throat, she knocked.

A few seconds later, the door opened, and Hiccup stood there, rubbing his eyes. Toothless stood behind him, blinking his neon green eyes at Astrid with confusion.

"Oh. H-hey, Astrid," Hiccup chuckled nervously, glancing down at the ground. "Hi, Astrid. Hi, Astrid… w-what brings you here t-this morning?"

Astrid put a hand on her hip, raising her brow. "Hiccup. Spill. I know you're the one who left those roses."

At first Hiccup looked shocked, and Astrid started to wonder if he even had done it. But a second later, Hiccup sighed, looking up at her. "Yeah. Okay… it was me…"

Astrid let out a _humph._ "Why did you do it? What made you think you could just send me roses and poems without me caring?"

"Well… I, um… I guess I…" Hiccup tried to find the rights words to say, but none came to him. He was finally stuck. "Look, Astrid, it's just... you've been really, um, _nice_ to me lately."

Astrid glared, her fingers itching to grab her ax. "Nice? What's that supposed to mean?"

Hiccup shook his head quickly, frightened that Astrid would explode. "No, no! That's not what I meant... " He breathed out a sigh. "This is just all so new to me right now. What with losing my leg, having this... _relationship_ with my father, and actually having friends for once…"

Astrid softened. Yes, she admitted to herself, this was all pretty tough on Hiccup. All his life, he had been ignored, rejected, laughed at, and now he had everything he ever hoped for- except an understanding of what to do with it all.

"But, why did you leave me roses?" Astrid asked, still confused.

Hiccup reddened, and tried to avoid her gaze. "I-I don't know… now that you're my… my _friend,_ I just wanted to… well… show you that I appreciate it." He smiled, but it was mostly to himself. "I knew that if you found out it was me, you wouldn't want to hang out anymore… s-so I chose to be an anonymous poet to see your reaction." He shrugged. "You didn't say anything about the rose yesterday, though. I wondered if you had even found it. So, last night I put a bouquet of roses in your window, so you'd be sure to see them."

Astrid felt touched with Hiccup's little speech, but she tried to hide it with a stoic expression. "Well, next time you want to talk about something like this, don't try to hide behind a mask to do it," she laughed, patting Hiccup on the shoulder.

Hiccup's eyes darted up to her, and he smiled. "Thanks, Astrid."

Astrid winked. "I'll see you later, Hiccup. And, just so you know… I think you're kind of cute." She pecked his cheek, and then she ran off, leaving Hiccup standing in the doorway.

Hiccup was absolutely shocked. He was both speechless and bursting with energy

Turning to Toothless, the boy's eyes widened, and he started to jump up in the air, yelling excitedly.

"She said I'm cute, bud!" Hiccup laughed, dancing around. "She said I'm cute…!"

* * *

 **Awww, isn't that sweet?**

 ***hugs self, getting the feels***

 **This was really fun to write, and I hoped you liked it! Please follow, fave, or review:)!**

 **Until the next story!**

 ***rides off on unicorn, screaming just as excitedly as Hiccup***

 **-thepurplewriter333**


End file.
